BURKE COUNTY, NC – Two large orange orbs have been appearing over North Carolina the last few weeks.

BURKE COUNTY, NC – Two large orange orbs have been appearing over North Carolina the last few weeks.

The mysterious orbs continue to pass up and down a gorge in the Blue Ridge foothills.

This is not the first time this has happened. For at least a century, the Brown Mountain Lights (as they are called) have confounded residents and tourists in a rugged patch of Burke County, bobbing and weaving near a modest peak.

Some have thought they are from automobile headlights? Brush fires? A paranormal phenomenon, or something natural not yet explained by science?

“I didn’t feel anything spooky or look around for Martians or anything like that,” One eyewitness said. “But it made me a bit scared… and happy at the same time. Weird.”

WWN contacted Russia extraterrestrial expert, Sergie Brikov, who said that the orbs are clearly alien spaceships.

“They are not from Planet Gootan or Planet Zeeba, the two planets have their beings actively working on our planet. No! These orbs seem to be from Planet Xicuc. I am very sure of that. Xixucians usually come in orbs.”

Since the Xixucian spaceships seem harmless, North Carolina tourism officials are hoping to cash in, by encouraging visitors to make their way to scenic outlooks around Linville Gorge with the goal of spotting something the spaceships.

The Brown Mountain Lights have been the subject of cable TV documentaries and have fueled vast online communities of amateur investigators. But Brikov said that he can prove that they orbs are Xixucian.

“I am one thousand percent certain,” Brikov said.

Earlier this month, a sellout crowd of 120 paid $20 a head to attend a symposium on the lights at Morganton City Hall, and there was a crowd outside the door hoping to get in at the last minute.

“It’s a good problem to have,” Phillips said. “I could have sold 500 tickets.”

Daniel Caton, a professor in the physics and astronomy department at Appalachian State University, isn’t sure that Brikov is correct. “I don’t think the orbs are spaceships from Xixuc. I think there’s a more reasonable and logical explanation.”